The reissue of my novel DESTINY EXPRESS is out May 19 from Rare Bird Books/Unnamed Press. I couldn’t be more thrilled.
The novel, set in Berlin, March 1933, follows the lives of filmmakers Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou. They were married. They collaborated intimately (she wrote the screenplays for M., Mabuse, Metropolis, all of his German films). And yet — as history tells us — when push came to shove: he fled, she stayed (and made films for the Nazis).
I started writing in order to solve that mystery. I never solved it. But when I was done: there was a novel.
Particularly proud of the blurbs from Thomas Pynchon, Samuel Fuller, Michael Tolkin et. al.
And even prouder, if such is possible, of the cover art.
In 1989, my mate (and bandmate) David Anthony King presented me, as a gift, with some prospective cover art. Dave — who was the drummer in Arsenal, for which I played guitar — was also a world-class artist. Perhaps best known are his Crass logo (the subject of a MoCA documentary) and the logo for Danceteria. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
When Dave presented me with the cover he imagined for the book, I (literally) jumped up and down. The original publisher, though, had other ideas in mind. Authors do not get to choose their own cover art.
Late last year, cleaning out an old storage locker, I came upon Dave’s original designs for the first time in decades. Was as moved in 2025 as I had been 36 years previously. I asked permission to license it from Dave’s estate, and was granted it. (Thank you, Dione!) I showed Dave’s work to my new publishers, and lo! they were as enthusiastic as I was. A small miracle of the long arc.
So on pub date, May 19 — coincidentally, but auspiciously, the birthday of Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, and Grace Jones — the book and its intended cover will be reunited. And we will get to hold in our hands the book as Dave, and I, and the cosmos intended.
The word for this: grateful.